Cold air retaining device for refrigerators



G. T. KUCHLER 2,585,136

COLD AIR RETAINING DEVICE FOR REFRIGERATORS 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Feb. 12, 1952 Filed Aug. 414, 1948 4 INVENTOR. 2 Eewgef ffzzzfi le'r JP WM %/'5 ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 12, 1952 D STATES PATENT OFFICE COLD AIR RETAININ G DEVICE" FOR REFRIGERATORS .GeorgeZT; Kuchler, Brooklyn, N. Y.

' Application August 14, 1948, Serial No. 44,316

'Within the same, to pevent it from being discharged to any great extent, on the opening" of the refrigerator.

Heretofore, attempts have been made to retain the cold air when the door was open, by the'provision of closed food containers supported'within the case, but the cold air surrounding thecontainers was to a large extent sucked out by. the Opening of the door, and would descend at'the outside of the case, often chilling the user.

This invention contemplates retaining theentire cold air of a refrigerator case withincthe same by a movable barrier interposed between the shelving and the door, so that on the opening of the door the cold air is retained within the compartments and not sucked or drawnout by the door. The barrier is preferably in the; form 4 of a blind which is transparent. sothat the user can determine thelocation of thearticle sought to be removed from the refrigerator, :and. then move the blind to enable the article to be grasped, and thereafter return the blind to closing position before the cold air can start its movement to the outsideof the case. As most of the articles in more frequent use can be arranged on theupper shelves, a main body of cold air is always maintained at the lower levels, enclosed by the blind, even though the blindexposes the upper levels. When desired, the entire front of the case may be opened by the movement of the blind or barrier, which is then placed in a position within the case so as not to impede access to thefront opening of the case.

The invention consists of a blind or barrier, preferably of transparent plastic material, which is placed to close the front opening of the case, so that when the door is open, said barrier takes the place of the door in so far as preventing the emission of 'ie cold air of the case, andwhi'ch barrier is movable to permit access to'any part of the interior of the case, by its movement, and if not desired to perform the function of a barrier; it'may be concealed within the case.

Theinvention will be more fully described hereinafter, embodiments thereof shown in the drawings, and the invention will be finally pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a known refrigerator case having my invention embodied there- Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic section, on line 2-2 :of:;Fig.' 1-,rbut-rwit1'r'the blind. or barrier in'its up- -permostxposition Fig. 3 is a partial view with the blindorzbarrier in inactive position;

Fig.4 is a SBCtlOl'liOIlliIl84-'4Of Rigel); Fig.:5"is a'frontxpartial view-of the blindcor curtain;

blind, and

Fig. 1 12 ..is, a: section taken'on .line .|2-';|2r:of Fig. 11.

Similar characters er -reference indicatecorrersponding: parts throughout "the "various views.

Referring tothe draWings-and'more particularly to Figs. 1' to 3, a known type of refrigerator case I0 is shown,- to which my invention-has been applied.

The cold air retaining blind-l eclosesthezotherwise open-fronts of the compartments? formed "byfthe 'shelves' ll; by having the upper encliZll of the blind liabutagainst the uppermost partition 2 l and :having its lower endv 22 extend: be-

lowfalseirbottonr 2I=3ffcrming= aibottcmbfsaacontainer :in the refrigerator, as shownin-Figal The blind 15pm" the embodiment; shown-nextends thefentireiwidth of". the; refrigeratorrzcase,

asshown in Fig: 1,-*where the *blindis shown as only partially .extendedfin :order; to leave ltheitwo upper compartments open.

When itais" desired to have all 'ofithe compartments'op'en'theblind I5 is in the. position as shown"in-Fig.f*3,with the end 20, atthe false bottom 23; and'the end-22 extended upwardly at the'rear' of thecase lll b'ehind certain bfi thc shelves-"ll forming"the' compartments 16. The

height of"the erid"22 when withdrawn is determined by the length of the blind 15,-af-ter covering the bottom of the case; andwi-th the end 20, about at the false bottom-23 (Fig'FB). The false bottom 23may be formedby 'the bottomof a -pan l8, having its bottom held above thebottom of the case.

Thus, the blind I5 may be raised to its entire closing position, as shown in Fig. 2, or lowered to its entire open position, as shown in Fig. 3, or may have any intermediate position, as shown, for example, in Fig. 1.

The side walls 24 of the case, are provided with U shaped tracks 25 held thereto by screws 26 (Fig. 4). These tracks act as guideways for the blind and extend downwardly and along the bottom of the case. Preferably, they extend upwardly from the bottom along the sidewalls of the case at the front thereof (Fig. 1). The track 25 is shown in Fig. 6, and has an opening 21 at its upper end, and two curved portions 28 and 29. A section 25a of the track may be removed, and the blind taken out for cleaning, and easily replaced.

Preferably the strips of the blind are of transparent plastic to enable the consumer to see the contents of the box when the blind is entirely closed.

The embodiment of a blind I5 is shown in Figures 5, 7, 11 and 12.

A plurality of strips 30 of suitable plastic, are arranged adjacent each other at their'lateral edges. At the end 22, one of the corners is rounded as at 3| (Fig. 12), to enable the end to move freely when it passes through the curved portions 28 and 29 of the track 25.

Each of the strips 30 has openings or bore 33 transversely across it for the passage of cords 34. One end of each of these cords is knotted as at 36, and abuts against a flange end 31 of a sleeve 38 around which a spring 39 is arranged which has an expansive effect between the flange 31 and the edge of the strip 30, whereby all of the strips are held contiguous to each other. This pressure device is arranged preferably at the innermost end of the blind, that is, at its lower end. 22.

The other end 20, has a handle 40 at the front thereof. This is preferably of the spring type to enable a clamping of the end 20 to the side of the case.

A rod 4| having an end 42, to enter the opening 21 in the side walls of the case, has a short plate 44 held thereto by screws 45 (Fig. A spring 46 presses against the plate. The other end of the spring presses against a similar plate fixed to a similar rod. The plates act as a pair of handles and preferably, an additional plate 41 is provided to act as a handle (Fig. 9). Bringing the plates toward each other, extracts the endsfrom the openings, and permits the blind to be lowered. A plurality of openings may be provided in the tracks, or the pressure of the spring may be relied on. The strips remain in their faying relationship, during the movement of the rod or crossbar 4| longitudinally in the tracks.

A shell 48 surrounds the rods 4|, and this shell is held to the uppermost strip 30 by a metallic strap member 49 (Figs. 8 and 9). The uppermost strip has a cut out 50 into which the knotted end SI of the cord 34 fits (Fig. 7). Thus the cord and strap member provide securing means.

An embodiment of the invention has been described, and the invention enables much of the cold air to be held in the refrigerator instead of being disseminated when a door is opened, without it doing useful work.

The benefit to the consumer is that he can open the outer door without losing hardly any of the established temperature; and he can see what he [ill needs. Then if the article is on the first or second shelf he need only lower the blind to that point, thereby saving the temperature on the shelves and the space below. Thus he stops the warm air from replacing the cold air that would ordinarily be sliding out at the bottom. The warm air would also raise the temperature, to say the least. This saving of temperature would not let the thermostat start the motor as often. So there would be also as a result a considerable saving in the power bill each month. Needless to say, the wear and tearon the motor and other moving parts could more than be easily observed, the maintenance bills or charges would drop in proportion also.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

In a refrigerator having a case with a front opening, the combination with tracks arranged along the sides of the case at the interior thereof extending the full height of said front opening along both sides of the case, and within the case the length of said height, of a cross bar transversely across the front opening and having its outer ends guided in said tracks, means holding said cross bar in an adjusted position in said tracks, a plurality of cords, each having one end secured to said cross bar, an abutment on the other end of each cord, the length of each cord being substantially equal to the height of the front opening, a plurality of helical springs each surrounding one of said cords and each having one end held on the cord against said abutments, the other end of the spring being free to move, a plurality of strips each extending across the front opening parallel with said cross bar, their ends enclosed by the tracks, and having openings for the passage of said cords, said strips being disposed in edge to edge contact from said cross bar to the free ends of said spring in pressed faying relationship, whereby said strips are adapted to be moved in close fitting relationship, as a unit from a complete closure position of the front opening to a concealed position in the case with the front opening entirely open, and to any intermediate position.

GEORGE T. KUCHLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,041,258 Mitchell May 19, 1936 2,062,856 Armbr'uster Dec. 1, 1936 2,127,379 Adams Aug. 16, 1938 2,136,145 Miner Nov. 8, 1938 2,139,779 Stratton Dec. 13, 1938 2,148,983 Grubb Feb. 28, 1939 2,235,454 Korspchak Mar. 18, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 658,098 France Jan. 22, 1929 

